Managing Unwelcome Geese

Growing numbers of Canada geese are taking up residence in the Midwest instead of migrating in the spring and fall. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Annie MacDowell reports, government officials and environmental groups are coming up with creative ways to control the growing population:

Transcript

Growing numbers of Canada Geese are taking up residence in the Midwest instead of
migrating in the spring and fall. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Annie
Macdowell reports – government officials and environmental groups are coming up with
creative ways to control the growing population:


Canada geese are becoming a familiar sight on front lawns and in retention ponds across
the Midwest. Goose excrement is a nuisance to residents and bacteria in their feces can
make people sick. Vid Rapsys owns an Illinois franchise of the “Geese Police.” This
special force uses border collies to gather and frighten geese away from private property
without hurting them.


“Tell the dog to come by while it’s in the water. It’s going to swim in a clockwise motion
around the geese in the water. The geese become very unnerved when animals come in
the water after them. Especially animals that looked like they were stalking them on land
and now there’s someone after them in water.”


But Rapsys adds the Border collies don’t offer a permanent solution. Usually the birds
just fly a couple of miles away and settle in someone else’s lawn or pond. More
permanent options involve shaking goose eggs or covering them with vegetable
oil, which stops the growth of the embryo. But aside from killing geese during hunting
season, people are not allowed to harm a Canada goose. They’re protected by a law
written in the early 1900s.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Annie
MacDowell.

Wolf Shootings Raise Questions

Conservation officers are worried that an increase in illegal shootings could hamper the gray wolf’s recovery in the northwest Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett explains:

Transcript

Conservation officers are worried that an increase in illegal shootings could hamper the
gray wolf’s recovery in the northwest Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports:


Michigan and Wisconsin would like to upgrade their gray wolf populations from
“endangered” to “threatened.” Minnesota’s herd is already classified as “threatened.”
That means the wolf is no longer on the brink of extinction. Pat Lederle is the
endangered species coordinator for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. He
says although the number of illegal killings is on the rise, that should not affect federal
plans to upgrade the gray wolf’s status. But Lederle says moving the gray wolf off the
endangered list altogether will require a closer look at poaching numbers:


“They’ll take into consideration things like the level of illegal takings that are occuring, if
there’s any disease issues in the population, is the population still expanding.”


Six collared wolves have been shot and killed already this year in Michigan. And at least
eight have been shot in Wisconsin, although that number could climb to ten, once
autopsies of two more wolves are complete.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m
Sarah Hulett.

More Ticks Infected With Lyme Disease

Experts say the number of ticks infected with Lyme disease is growing in the Midwest. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Ali Kawa has this report:

Mourning Dove Protected as Peace Symbol?

About half the states around the Midwest allow hunters to shoot mourning doves. But one state that had hoped to begin a hunt this fall won’t be doing so. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach has more:

Transcript

About half the states around the Midwest allow hunters to shoot mourning doves. But one state that had hoped to begin a hunt this fall won’t be doning so. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach Reports.


In Wisconsin, a record number of hunters turned out at public meetings last year and voted for a shooting season on mourning doves. The season was supposed to start this September, but a judge has issued a temporary injunction against the hunt.
He’s ruled that during the Vietnam War era, Wisconsin lawmakers may have taken the mourning dove off the list of regulated game birds, when they made the dove Wisconsin’s official symbol of peace. But Jim Weix of the Wisconsin Dove Hunters Association, says this year, lawmakers reversed themselves and checked over a proposed rule allowing the dove hunt.


“They decided to let it stand, so I do disagree with the judge of course.”


A final court ruling is not expected prior to October 30th, which is when this year’s mourning dove hunt was scheduled to end. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chuck Quirmbach in Milwaukee.

Bear Hunt Casts Wider Net

  • In this year’s bear hunt Minnesota is allowing hunters to take two bears with each hunting license the state issues. Photo by Don Breneman

The number of black bears is increasing across North America, but the fastest-growing bear populations are in the Great Lakes region. The most recent estimates put the region’s population at over 60,000. In Minnesota, the bear population has quadrupled in the past two decades. Wildlife managers think the population is getting too big, and this fall the state is trying to help hunters kill more bears. Minnesota is offering a “two-for-one” deal on bear permits. Hunters can buy one license, and kill two bears. And the state is opening hunting season early, in the last week of August. Some people are upset. They say there’s no need to increase the bear kill. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Julin has the story:

Problem Geese Headed for Soup Kitchens

Canadian geese can easily be found alongside roadways or in suburban
neighborhoods at numbers far greater than a decade ago. Each year
millions of the birds migrate north through the Mississippi Fly-Way
settling in the Great Lakes region, leaving states grappling with ways
to control hordes of geese. In Ohio, a new plan is underway to use
so-called problem geese as food for soup kitchens. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Natalie Walston reports:

A Midwestern Wolf Hunt?

Wolves have made a spectacular recovery the past twenty years through
protection by the federal endangered species act. But now the
State of Minnesota is debating a public hunting and trapping season. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Nick Van Der Puy reports.

Spring Bear Hunt Called Off

U.S. hunters were outraged last month (February) when Ontario’s
Minister of Natural Resources cancelled the spring bear hunt. His
reasoning was based on concerns about the orphaning of bear cubs. As The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Suzanne Elston points out, the decision
was in fact, purely political:

Deer Hunt Controversy

With deer populations on the rise throughout the country, many communities are looking for ways to curb their growth. Near Cleveland, some park managers have asked for a permit to shoot deer in a controlled hunt, claiming overpopulated deer herds are damaging park vegetation. But local deer advocates strongly disagree and so far they’ve been able to block the deer hunt in court. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Ley Garnett reports: